When you visit the Florida Botanical Garden in Largo, also cross over the foot bridge to Heritage Village (a link on the FBG website or http://www.pinellascounty.org/heritage/ ). They are both awesome. And free! "Come visit this 21-acre living history museum located in the heart of Pinellas County. The natural pine and palmetto landscape is home to some of Pinellas County's most historic buildings. More than 28 historic structures and features, some dating back to the 19th century, include a school, church, sponge warehouse, railroad depot and store as well as a variety of historic homes and farm structures." These is not far from the 30-mile-long chain of off shore islands "the beaches", nearest being Indian Rocks Beach which is perhaps the least over-developed... no high highrises, nice little eating places, cotteges... also there, and free: the world's largest seabird sanctuary http://www.seabirdsanctuary.com An hour or so away in downtown St. Petersburg, in the waterfront park system, is the "largest outdoor collection of palm trees in the world" as I think I have heard it advertised: the Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum. (free) http://www.stpete.org/parks/palm.asp Have fun! Irma

I`m formally from Broward,had Van Kirk do my pool 10years ago.They have been in busness for something like 40years.Great design, best price,and they did a good job for me "back then". Understand they go into Palm Beach.Give them a call,see what they are offering. Good Luck...JR

I posted here years ago when we were deciding about taking our pool screen down. We did it and It was the best decision we made! It looks much better and we dont have issues with debris and bugs (we did have to cut some trees down close to the pool). We love having it all open. Regarding the fence so you can still see the bay, our friends have a fence that looks modern and you can still see through. I posted a pic of our pool and an example of a possible fence.

Custom pool quotes depend on many different aspects.You have to take into account the access you have for machinery,weather you will be hauling the dirt away or keeping it on site,what type of pool you are getting the estimate for(gunnite,fiberglas,ect),what type of tile they include,what type of plaster they use,how long the company is in buisness. How long they have been in buisness is important. It really does reflect in the price. You will pay more for that in S Florida because their are so many companies right now with no idea of how to run a pool buisness. They sell the jobs cheap and rely on building a lot of pools to make a profit wich never happens because things go wrong. A good number to use in PB for a pool that size is 225 dollars a linear foot(120 linear foot @ 225) plus decking(6.50 per square),permit(1000),saftey fence(16 per linear foot),sun shelf(450). Call Janet at Reffered Home Services . They are a company that has a list of contractors that are checked out for licences and track record. Janet Smith Referred Home Services, LLC TM 18935 Pond Cypress Court Jupiter, FL 33458 561.401.4004 - Palm Beach County 772.402.9010 - Treasure Coast 561.236.1031 - cell Janetrhs@comcast.net